Homemade Arbor Press

Locate an automobile jack and use it as the main mechanism for the arbor press. Use a piston style jack, which will typically consist of a small hydraulic drum with a single metal piston rising from its center. This piston does the lifting and is operated by a straight length of pipe inserted into the opening at one side of the base. Working the pipe lever up and down causes the piston to rise.

Weld together lengths of 2-inch square steel tubing with your torch and solder to form an upright structure of two tubes about 16 inches in length. Weld the tubes to a piece of 1/2-inch flat steel, which will serve as the base plate for the apparatus.

Weld two pieces of 16-inch long, No. 2 steel channel to the tops of the tubes you just installed so that they run perpendicular to the upright tubing and so that the rear end is flush with the back piece of upright tubing. These pieces of channel will serve as the mounting brackets for both arms of the lever and press.

Weld a short piece of 2-inch square steel tubing to the rear edge of the back upright tube, so that it sits a few inches below the horizontal steel channel. Weld a piece of 1/2-inch steel stock to the underside of the tubing and the back edge of the upright to serve as a brace.

Weld a piece of 2-inch square tubing to the front edge of the horizontal channel, which will serve as the guide for the press arm. Use your power drill and metal bit to make two pilot holes through the horizontal channel about 1 inch behind the upright tubing you just installed. Make matching pilot holes in a 16-inch length of 1 1/2-inch steel tubing. Slide the tubing into position and bolt it fast with 1/2-inch bolts and nuts.

Drill pilot holes every 1/2 inch or so through the side of a 16-inch-long piece of 1 1/2-inch square steel tubing. Slide it into the open top of the front upright tube where it will serve as the press arm. Install a last piece of 2-inch square tubing across the top of the uprights so that it rests on the jack piston at the rear, pivots on the center upright, and pressed down on the front upright. Drill pilot holes and install pins through the center upright to fit the size and style jack, height and overall layout of the press.

Weld a piece of 1/2-inch flat steel to the underside of the press. Mount the plate to the top front corner at one end of your work bench. Use your power drill to make pilot holes in the bench and use 1/2 inch through bolts and nuts to tighten it in place. Insert the jack lever pipe and test the press.